Lured by promises of a rosier future, the small, independent cities of San Pedro and Wilmington in 1909 joined themselves to their burgeoning neighbor to the north, port-hungry Los Angeles. Now they might get out again, led by activists in these contrasting harbor-side neighborhoods of picturesque hillsides, historic waterfronts, towering refineries and grimy industrial districts.

It's not unusual for a new school to be opposed by those whose homes, businesses, jobs or favorite market would be bulldozed in the process. What's unusual is for them to stop an ongoing school project in its tracks, and that's what happened Tuesday, when a sharply divided Los Angeles school board put a badly needed 1,278-seat Wilmington campus on hold. The project is already two years and $4.

More than 150 firefighters were called out early Monday morning to battle a fire at the Texaco refinery in Wilmington that took six hours to contain. Officials said there were no injuries, and no residents were evacuated. The fire started at 12:15 a.m. inside the pipelines of the alkylation unit, where butane and propane gas are mixed to make high-octane fuel, said Texaco spokeswoman Barbara Kornylo.

One worker was critically burned on his hands and face and three others were injured in a flash electrical fire at the Shell refinery in Wilmington. The incident occurred about 2:30 p.m. while the four were working on a 2,300-volt electrical panel. Firefighters called to the scene at 2101 E. Pacific Coast Highway. were initially told that one of the men had been electrocuted.

At first glance, the run-down section of Wilmington, just east of the Dominguez Channel, looks little different from other parts of the industrial Harbor-area community. Shuttered buildings and fenced-off lots belonging to the Port of Los Angeles dot a row of mostly maritime businesses.

In the far southern reaches of Los Angeles, where cargo-laden 18-wheelers rumble by day and a thick blanket of fog rolls in most nights, 50 people have been killed this year. So far. With two days yet to go, the body count in the Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division--which includes San Pedro, Wilmington and Harbor City--is up 72% from 29 in 1996. The increase in the Harbor Division is perplexing because it comes amid a citywide decrease in homicides of about 17%.

A Los Angeles zoning official has decided to allow a gay bathhouse in Wilmington to remain open because the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety did not prove its allegation that the club is used as a place for sex. Zoning Administrator James Crisp on Tuesday overturned a building and safety department order for the bathhouse to close, citing lack of evidence.

An explosion at a Wilmington oil refinery sparked a huge fire Tuesday afternoon, sending flames hundreds of feet up and causing a brief shutdown of the Harbor Freeway. Los Angeles firefighters and a fire brigade from the Tosco Corp. refinery quickly smothered the flames with massive quantities of water and fire-retardant foam. The blaze was extinguished in about an hour. No injuries were reported. This is the second major fire this year at a California Tosco refinery.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan on Wednesday announced the addition of four more communities to the city's Targeted Neighborhood Initiative program. Wilmington and the San Fernando Valley communities of Pacoima/Lake View Terrace, Van Nuys and Valley Glen will receive $3 million each over four years to spend on community improvements proposed by residents. The city started the Targeted Neighborhood Initiative program in 1997 with 12 communities awarded grants.

Petitioners have two weeks to come up with only 20 more valid signatures needed to force the Local Agency Formation Commission to study the economic feasibility of secession from Los Angeles by San Pedro and Wilmington. LAFCO officials said that a petition filed Friday by Harbor VOTE Inc. contained 13,450 valid voter signatures, according to a check by the Los Angeles County registrar's office. That is just 20 shy of the 13,470 required for the study.

The city Harbor Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to proceed with a long-awaited Wilmington waterfront project, prompting applause and a few cheers from residents at the meeting. The port has long ignored the working-class neighborhood that has borne the brunt of harbor air pollution and traffic. But the commission appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa agreed to a $10.8-million contract with Sasaki Associates to plan and design the waterfront revitalization.

Wilmington has long been the stepchild of the Port of Los Angeles, bearing the brunt of pollution and traffic as port officials have showered neighboring San Pedro with millions of dollars in beautification and development projects. But the first gathering of the newly appointed Board of Harbor Commissioners suggests that could be changing. The board will meet in Wilmington tonight for the first time in many years.

When Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa visited the Los Angeles seaport this week to introduce the members of his new Harbor Commission, he pointedly noted that port officials have been refurbishing the harbor community of San Pedro. "But I noticed, when I saw that development, that Wilmington didn't have quite its fair share," the mayor said, drawing spirited applause from some in the audience on San Pedro's newly renovated Los Angeles Cruise Ship Promenade.

Alex Anaya, 36, remembers that when he was growing up in Wilmington, children would play outside up until 10 p.m. Those days are no more, he said. Violent crime and drug abuse now mar the small port community, dotted by refineries and composed mostly of immigrant families. But Anaya and others are hoping that the key to halting these problems is prayer. Sts.

Los Angeles police seized a large truckload of illegal fireworks found near D Street and Broad Avenue Tuesday morning, authorities said. "It's a pretty big problem this time of year," said Sgt. Jeff Bratcher of the Los Angeles Police Department. The bomb squad was called to the scene and the department's Criminal Conspiracy Section was investigating Tuesday afternoon, said Bratcher. Among the items seized were firecrackers, mortars and sky rockets, Bratcher said.

A man who allegedly tried to attack a Los Angeles police officer with a machete was shot and killed early Friday, police said. LAPD Officer Daniel Chilson, 32, and a partner had followed the man to the 1150 block of Gulf Avenue after a report that the suspect, identified as Mark Steven Navarrette, 41, had attacked his estranged wife at another address, police said. Navarrette allegedly walked up to Chilson in the driveway of a home and refused orders to stop or drop the machete, police said.

Key elements of a plan for the harbor area to break away from Los Angeles--including a guarantee to maintain water and power rates--are not feasible or legal, according to a city report to be released today. In a formal response to a study evaluating the viability of cityhood for Wilmington and San Pedro, Los Angeles officials said the review by the Local Agency Formation Commission underestimated the harm it would do to what would remain of Los Angeles.

A Superior Court judge has ruled that a 1.8-acre parcel that was donated to the city for a park cannot be used for a Habitat for Humanity housing development for low- and moderate-income families. Judge Robert O'Brien ruled that the East Wilmington Greenbelt area property that was donated to the city in 1976 by Southern Pacific Railroad for "recreation and beautification purposes" cannot be turned over to Habitat for Humanity for a 26-unit housing complex.

Carol Piseno, a single mother from Wilmington, wasn't about to let her neighborhood become the next Bhopal. Worried that a notorious chemical nicknamed "HF" would leak from the local Ultramar refinery and blanket the area with a deadly cloud, Piseno and her neighbors campaigned to have it banned. Now, Ultramar is set to become the last petroleum refinery in California to phase out the use of concentrated hydrogen fluoride.

A healthy newborn was dropped off at a fire station in Wilmington on Wednesday under the state's Safe Haven law, which allows parents to surrender babies with no questions asked rather than abandon them. The 7-pound boy, who was believed to be about an hour old, was delivered to Fire Station 38 at 8:40 a.m. by a woman who said she was the mother's cousin, fire officials said. Firefighters checked to make sure he appeared healthy and took him to a hospital.